I tried grits for the first time when I was on vacation many years ago. They had little packets of instant grits along with the instant oatmeal and cold cereals as part of the hotel breakfast spread. I decided to give them a try and discovered that I quite liked them! Unfortunately, grits are relatively hard to come by in Canada. I kept my eyes peeled for them for years, but never found any. Until about a year ago! When I finally spotted a bag of Bob's Red Mill corn grits. Finally!

To be fair, now that I've tried them properly, they're not all that different from polenta. But I still appreciate having the opportunity to give them a go.

I know shrimp and grits is a classic. But I didn't feel like cooking shrimp for breakfast yesterday morning. So, instead, I opted for some chicken sausages, fried eggs, and a garlic-y kale sauté to top my cheesy grits. And I feel like this worked out pretty well all-in-all.

I think the only change that I'd make next time is to adjust the proportion of cooking liquid slightly. The recipe I had called for cooking 3/4 c. of grits in 3 c. of water. But the package specified a full cup of grits for that amount of liquid. I decided to follow the package instructions, but I think the cookbook may have actually had it right. It's not a huge deal either way. Just something to keep in mind for next time.

Cheesy Grits with Sausage, Kale, and Eggs

Ingredients

• 3 c. water
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 3/4 c. grits
• 450g chicken sausages
• 1-2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 5-6 cloves garlic, minced
• 300g kale, chopped
• 2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
• 6 large eggs
• 2 Tbsp. milk
• 1 c. grated cheese

Directions

1. Combine water, salt, and grits and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring often, until thickened.
3. Reduce heat to very low and keep warm while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
4. Cook the sausages over medium heat.
5. Remove from the pan, allow to cool slightly, and slice. Set aside.
6. Heat the oil over medium heat.
7. Add the garlic and cook until softened.
8. Add the kale and cook until wilted.
9. Stir in the vinegar and season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.
10. Fry the eggs in a little butter or lard and season to taste with salt and pepper.
11. Stir the milk and cheese into the grits.
12. Dish up a portion of grits and top with some sausage, kale, and an egg.

As written in the original recipe, this is meant to be more of a syrup. Made with pineapple juice and strained smooth. I chose to make it as a chunky sauce using chopped fruit rather than juices and skipping the straining.

Pineapple-Cranberry Sauce

Adapted from Waffles: Sweet, Savory, Simple by Dawn Yanagihara

Ingredients

• 300g sugar
• 1/4 c. water
• 340g fresh or frozen cranberries
• 1 pineapple, trimmed and chopped
• 1 Tbsp. grated ginger (or ginger paste)

Directions

1. Combine the sugar and water and bring to a vigorous simmer.
2. Shake the pan a few times to mix and continue cooking until a light caramel forms (~8 minutes).
3. Carefully add the cranberries and pinapple to the pot and stir to combine.
4. Caramel will harden. Continue cooking until caramel softens and dissolves and cranberries begin to break down.
5. Stir in the ginger and cook for another minute or two.
6. Serve over waffles or pancakes.

The Kidlet requested cake pops for her birthday party this year. I was somewhat apprehensive since I've never made them before and they seemed a bit fiddly. But, truth-be-told, they weren't actually that difficult to put together!

On the one hand, you have to bake the cake and then crumble it and mix it with milk to form the "dough". Then form it into balls, partially freeze them, impale them on sticks, and coat each one in chocolate. So it is a bit of a process. But, on the other hand, you don't have to make icing or split, fill, and stack cake layers. You don't have to do any decoration beyond a few sprinkles. And they're extremely easy to serve. No plates or cutlery required!

All-in-all, I'd call these a great success and happily make them again in the future!

My cake pops were a little on the large size. According to the recipe, we were supposed to get 36 cake pops, but we only ended up with 30. I could have reduced the size a bit to the proper proportions, but I figured no one would mind the extra-large size. They're a little less dainty, to be sure. And a little more top-heavy. But I quite liked them nonetheless.

Cake Pops

Slightly adapted from The Perfect Cake by America's Test Kitchen

Ingredients

• 210g all-purpose flour
• 200g sugar
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 c. sour cream
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 Tbsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 c. milk¹
• 2 Tbsp. icing (powdered/confectioners') sugar
• ~2 c. white or dark chocolate chips
• 30-36 lollipop sticks
• sprinkles

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour a 20cm (8") square pan.
2. Combine the flour, sugar, and salt.
3. Sift in the baking powder and mix well.
4. Add the butter, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla and mix until just combined.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake at 180°C (350°F) until golden and cooked through (~25 minutes).
6. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to finish cooling.
7. Once cake has cooled completely, break into small (1-2cm) pieces.
8. Add the milk and sugar to the bowl and mix until a dough forms.
9. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
10. Form the dough into balls (aim for 30-36 total).
11. Freeze for ~1 hour until firm, but not frozen solid.
12. Gently melt the chocolate in a large measuring cup and place in a bowl of hot water to keep it liquid.
13. Dip a stick into the melted chocolate and then stab it about halfway through one of the cake balls.
14. Dip the cake pop in the chocolate to coat completely.
15. Dip in sprinkles so that some are picked up by the chocolate.
16. Stand cake pop in a piece of florist's foam and allow chocolate to set.
17. Repeat dipping process with remaining cake pops.
18. Store at room temperature for up to 4 hours or in the fridge for up to 4 days.

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¹ The original recipe only called for 1/4 c. of milk, but that wasn't nearly enough to form a cohesive dough. I needed to add an extra 1/4 c. of milk for it to reach that point. ^Back

Blueberry Buttermilk Waffles (Big Book of Breakfasts)

I've been on a bit of a waffle kick lately. I've already made most of the waffles from the waffle cookbook (except for the dessert ones), but there are still a bunch of as-yet-untried ones in the Big Book of Breakfasts that I haven't made yet, so I decided to give another one of them a go. To be fair, this one is pretty similar to other buttermilk waffle recipes that I've made, but it still lets me check off another recipe, even if it's not a completely new type or flavour.

The original recipe just used all-purpose flour for these crispy and fluffy waffles. After giving it a bit of thought though, I decided to go with a mix of white and whole wheat flour for mine. I used a 50/50 mix, but I think 100% whole wheat also would've been fine. It might even be nice to try to incorporate a bit of sourdough starter next time.

Blueberry Buttermilk Waffles

Slighty adapted from The Big Book of Breakfasts by Maryana Vollstedt

Ingredients

• 130g flour
• 130g whole wheat flour
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 3/4 c. buttermilk
• 2 large eggs
• 100-150g sourdough discard @ 100% hydration (optional)
• 1/2 c. butter, melted
• 1 c. frozen blueberries

Directions

1. Preheat waffle iron.
2. Combine flours, sugar, and salt.
3. Sift in baking powder and baking soda and mix well.
4. Beat eggs into buttermilk.
5. Mix in the sourdough discard (if using) and stir in the melted butter.
6. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir to combine.
7. Scoop a portion of batter into the waffle iron and sprinkle a few blueberries on top. Close waffle iron and cook according to manufacturer directions.
8. Repeat cooking process wiht remaining batter and blueberries.
9. Serve topped with yogurt, maple syrup, and/or cream.

I actually made these waffles several weeks ago, but I've still have a huge backlog of recipes to write up, so this one is very late in getting posted.

These were pretty good. Not may favourite waffles, I don't think, but perfectly serviceable.

The cookbook suggested serving them with baked apples, so I whipped up a quick, chunky, homemade apple sauce to serve with them. (Not the same, I know, but I was hoping that it'd be close enough). This was alright as a topping, but I think other fruits and/or a sweetened cream cheese topping of some description would've worked even better.

Gingerbread Waffles

Slightly adapted from The Big Book of Breakfasts by Maryana Vollstedt

Ingredients

• 300g whole wheat flour
• 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 3 large eggs
• 1 3/4 c. milk
• 1/4 c. molasses
• 1/4 c. butter, melted

Directions

1. Preheat waffle iron.
2. Combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves.
3. Sift in baking powder and mix well.
4. Beat eggs and molasses into milk and mix in butter.
5. Pour wet ingredients into dry and stir to combine.
6. Scoop a portion of batter into the preheated waffle iron and cook according to manufacturer directions. Repeat with remaining batter.
7. Serve with baked apples, applesauce, fresh fruit, whipped cream, maple syrup, and/or maple cream cheese.

I needed bread in a hurry last night. I had intended to give the chocolate bread a try when next I was baking, but I didn't have time to make the sponge. So instead I flipped a bit further through the book and settled on this high-fibre quick bread recipe.

Using chemical leaveners rather than yeast meant it was ready in about an hour. And, while it does have quite a bit of sugar in it, it also contains a hefty quantity of wheat bran and no added fat. So it comes out sweet, but quite lean. And the molasses makes it pleasingly dark and fragrant.

Hilo Bran Bread

Slightly adapted from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads

Ingredients

• 375g flour
• 150g wheat bran
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 2 1/2 c. milk
• 6 Tbsp. molasses

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour two 20x10cm (8x4") loaf pans.
2. Combine the flour, bran, sugar, and salt.
3. Sift in the baking powder and baking soda and mix well.
4. In a large measuring cup, combine the milk and molasses and mix well.
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir to combine.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and let stand for 10 minutes.
7. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 40-45 minutes.
8. Turn out onto wire racks to cool.

Basic Waffles (with Variations)

I've been meaning to make waffles for breakfast all week. But I kept sleeping in and not quite getting to it. Today I finally managed to rouse myself early enough to get them done before the Kidlet went to school.

I was going to just make plain waffles. But then I saw that it had a bunch of suggested variations down at the bottom: chocolate, cheese, poppy seed, and nut. I briefly contemplated doing cheese waffles. But TF said that something sweet might be better since we don't really have much to put on savoury waffles right now. So, in the end, I went with the chocolate version.

They were perfectly serviceable waffles with a nice (if not particularly intense) chocolate flavour. They got a bit of crisp to the exterior and weren't too sweet either. I think I'd probably mix in some chopped dark chocolate next time. Just to punch up the flavour a little bit. But all-in-all this made for a perfectly acceptable quick breakfast. (Not the most nutritionally complete, to be sure, but okay as an occasional thing.)

Basic Waffles

Slightly adapted from The Big Book of Breakfasts by Maryana Vollstedt

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs
• 1 3/4 c. milk
• 1/2 butter, melted
• 250g flour
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 4 tsp. baking powder

Directions

1. Preheat your waffle iron.
2. Beat the eggs with the milk and butter.
3. Add the flour and sugar and sift in the baking powder.
4. Stir until just mixed.
5. Pour a portion of batter into the preheated waffle iron and cook according to manufacturer's directions. Repeat with remaining batter.
6. Serve with fruit, syrup, whipped cream, and/or other toppings of your choice.

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Variations

Chocolate Waffles

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs
• 1 3/4 c. milk
• 1/2 butter, melted
• 250g flour
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 30g cocoa powder, sifted
• 60g dark chocolate, chopped

Cheese Waffles

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs
• 2 c. milk
• 1/4 butter, melted
• 250g flour
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 c. grated Cheddar

Poppyseed Waffles

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs
• 1 3/4 c. milk
• 1/2 butter, melted
• 250g flour
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 2 Tbsp. poppyseeds

Nutty Waffles

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs
• 1 3/4 c. milk
• 1/2 butter, melted
• 250g flour
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 c. chopped toasted walnuts, pecans, or hazelnuts

Waffles with Ham

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs
• 1 3/4 c. milk
• 1/4 butter, melted
• 1/4 c. unsweetened applesauce
• 250g flour
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 c. diced cooked ham